An American Princess
by JamieMH87
Summary: Though a series of events Eden, An American girl, has become the chosen bride of the Prince of Korea. What will happen when her and the cold, arrogant prince decide to sign a marriage contract to appease the dying older lady?Will Eden make a good Princess


The Immigrant Princess:

The first American crown princess.

Main Characters:

Prince Lee Bon Hwa Eden Thomson

Min Ra Chan John Han Soo

About the Author:

Hello everyone! I'm Jamie and I am 21 years old. I have been writing fanfiction for a while now, and usually keep up with it in my free time, though I haven't really written in a while. I am a college sophomore, and I also work part time. So updates will be whenever I get a chance (or if I am slow at work). I hope you all enjoy! Please leave a comment to let me know what you think! Flames or critiques invited.

_An Immigrant Princess_ is based loosely off of the idea of _Goong—Princess Hours._

_**If you like this, and decide that you want to make graphic's or whatever for this fic, I will edit this entry and give you credit where it is due by placing a big "Thank you!" with your name under it!**_

©**Jupichild** 2007. All rights reserved. Distribution of any kind is prohibited without the written consent of **Jupichild.**

Summery:

Eden went to Korea in a nervous state to sing in a very prestigious opera competition. The summer before her last year of college was an important one; it was time for her to become recognized as a potential opera singer and dazzle millions on stage-Which was her dream. This was how she ended up in Korea; to win this competition would push her in all of the right places.

Sadly though she missed out on her chance of a lifetime. Why? On her way to the opera house she saw an elderly woman crouched on the ground in pain. Without thinking she picked the woman up and asked where the nearest hospital was. Although the woman was saved, she had missed her audition time and had to return back to her small apartment in New York City with her very disappointed Professors.

Little did Eden know is that the woman that she had saved was actually the Elder Queen of Korea, who had decided to go out for a walk in the park. She had gone out despite the palace doctor's orders, and without her body guards. She was pondering the fate of the engagement of her only grandson, Lee Bon Hwa, who was 23 years old and as cold as stone. Although there were many eligible daughters to marry her grandson, she didn't want some well brought up woman who would heed his every word and wear a fake smile whenever she was around others. No, that would never do. She wanted a girl to challenge him, a girl who was selfless, energetic, and warm and someone who would bring the palace up to the twenty-first century.

Then she had met Eden Thomson, who had saved her. True, she wasn't Korean, and it was true she didn't have any Korean background, but she had a heart, and she knew that she would be the perfect woman to challenge her grandson. She knew this was the girl who would be the next crown princess. She did have to repay her for saving her life after all.

What will happen to Eden when she decides to marry Lee Bon Hwa? How will she handle the different culture and the pressures put upon her as princess? Who is this mysterious woman who always seems to be around the prince and what is their relationship? What will she do when a handsome new Korean/American body guard starts working for the royal family and he shows interest in Eden? Read and find out!

Chapter One:

"The great queen is very ill, she's requesting an audience with you, Mama," The palace doctor said gravely. "Her health has been decaying since her fall last month."

"Yes, I know. We didn't expect for it to get so bad so fast," Said the queen, looking over at her husband and son with a sad look on her face. "I'll go in first."

The queen got up and bowed slightly to her husband and son, and again bowed to the palace doctor and walked silently into the dark room where the great queen laid taking deep hoarse breaths.

"Mama, you asked to see me?" the queen whispered sitting in the chair beside the great queens' bed.

"As you know my health is getting worse. I may not have much longer left in this world," spoke the queen slowly and quietly. "I want to settle the crown princes wedding before my death."

"Yes, Mama," Nodded the queen in agreement, smiling slightly. "I have several girls in mind for you to go over. All of them are from great families and are all very well trained in our customs."

"There is no need," The great queen said suddenly, and much louder than before. "I have already chosen who will be the next princess."

"You… Have?" The queen asked, quite shocked to hear this sudden news. "Who is she? Do we know her?"

"She is an American girl." The great queen said, smiling to herself.

"She's…What?" The queen questioned, filled with sudden shock "How can the next princess be an American girl? What is her background? Is she even Korean?"

"No, she is not. If it were not for her I would have laid dead in the park. I had fallen and was in pain, yet the people around me continued to walk past and ignored me. I was quite shocked that so many people ignored an elder in pain, let alone the great queen of their country," The queen said, closing her eyes and reciting the memory. "This girl was in a group from her University here to take part in a singing competition. She left her group when she saw me laying in pain and carried me all of the way to the hospital. I later found out when I was doing a background check on the girl that she had missed her competition in order to do so. She left before I was able to thank her properly. Yes, she will make a great princess." The queen finished, opening her eyes once again and pointed to a folder sitting at the end of the bed.

"The folder has everything you need to know about the girl. I want you and my grandson on the first flight to New York City in two days to retrieve her. No further questions." The great queen finished closing her eyes and silently went to sleep. The queen stood up from her chair and bowed slightly at her sleeping elder and picked up the folder from the end of the bed. Sitting back down she opened the folder and examined the photo that lay on top.

Looking back at her was the smiling face of a pale girl, who had long dark brown wavy hair, and dark, almost black eyes. Her eyes were friendly and round. Her lips were full and pink, her smile was intoxicating and sweet, and her cheeks were rosy. It was hard to think that this friendly looking girl would be the next queen and mother to the future of the nation.

Putting the photo aside she looked at the paper with her background history. It has said that she is a 21 year old fourth year student in New York City's University of music as a voice major. Her name is Eden Thomson, she works part time at café and lives in a small apartment close to her college. No parents or relatives to her name.

"Well then Eden," The queen whispered at the file. "It looks like there is a lot of work to be done in very little time."

---------New York City----------

"Hey lady, there is already about 5 inches of foam in here, how much more could you possibly want!?" Eden sighed over the chaos of the morning rush. The woman angrily pulled out her visa card, paid, and huffed out of the café'.

Sometimes Eden wondered why she took up a job at a café' when she was already busy with school, but when she thought of how much debt she was in she remembered and sighed as she continued down the line of coffee's, Latte's, and Frappe's.

Eden was a voice major in one of New York City's best music colleges, though the college is also one of New York City's most expensive colleges as well. She got in with a partial scholarship, which takes care of a good chunk of her schools costs, but it still leaves her with quite a bit to pay. Singing had always been her favorite things in the entire world. She always thought she would sing on stage no matter what. Singing opera, performing in front of thousands singing great pieces, that was always what she wanted to do. Her professors always showed great faith in her, placing her in as many competitions as she could handle, sadly though she missed the biggest one over the summer that took place in Korea. The winner of that competition now is well known. Eden sighed and continued with her work, deciding it was best not to mull over it.

Around 11, the morning rush started to die down and Eden threw her apron off and quickly gathered her books and purse.

"Oh no!" she screamed as she looked at her watch. "I'm going to be late for my first class!"

Eden ran outside of the café' and pulled on her helmet to her vespa. Though, it was old and sometimes stalled, Eden took it everywhere. She quickly started it and made her way down the busy street.

Once she started getting close to the school she started to cheer inwardly, she was going to make it in time! Since she came to New York City three years ago she had started to become a pro of weaving in and out of traffic on her vespa, though it wasn't incredibly fast she had always been able to make it to her class on time when she always feared that she was going to be late.

She got a moment to the school and found that the road was blocked and she could go no further.

"What's going on!?" She shouted as she looked over the road blocks and saw a long line of nice black cars with dark tinted windows. "Famous people make me sick, always stopping traffic when they go shopping for the day."

Eden sighed and parked her vespa on the side of the road and decided to start sprinting to class. She was only 5 minuets away; she could make it if she ran fast enough. She ran quickly up the sloped street and finally into her college.

"One minuet, I can make it! Just have to push myself a little…"

A moment later she felt her body run into something solid, and she fell back with a groan of pain. She mumbled to herself and started to rub her head where she hit the offensive object. She looked up and saw a tall, muscular Asian man standing before her, staring down at her dismissively.

"Sorry! Sorry! I wasn't paying attention! Are you alright?" Eden asked, looking at the man to see if he showed any signs of being in pain. Oddly though the man just continued to stand there and look down at her.

Eden stood herself up, eyeing the man up and down.

"So… You're alright? Is that why you are quiet? You sure you're fine? Sorry! Sorry! Oh no! I'm late!" Eden shouted as she looked down at her watch. She gathered her fallen scores of music and continued to run down the hall and into her vocal lesson.

"Eden, it is the first day of the new semester, and you are already late," Her Professor sighed as she handed Eden the Italian piece that they were going to work on this semester. "I honestly don't know what I am going to do with you."

"Sorry! I'm sorry professor! I would have been here on time it's just that…" Eden started.

"Save the excuses Eden, let's get to work. We have a lot to do and so little time now." Her Professor said as she sat down at the Piano and started playing a slow tune; however a moment after she started there was an interruption from the doorway.

Standing there was man that Eden had just run into in the hallway. He looked strait at Eden, then the professor and cleared his voice.

"I'm looking for Eden Thomson," said the man with the highly accented, but deep voice.

Eden looked around the music room for a moment, and then realized he had said her name. She looked at her professor and pointed to herself and mouthed 'Me?' Her professor nodded.

"I'm Eden, what is it you need?" Eden said quietly, looking ashamed as she remembered running into the main at full force.

"You need to come with me." He said, taking a step into the room.

Eden looked at her professor and her professor shrugged and closed the Piano.

"Go ahead and go, but you better work on that aria. If by this time tomorrow you are late and you haven't done any work on this, so help me child…" She started before standing up and exiting the room.

Eden gathered her things and slowly made her way over to the tall thick man standing darkly at the doorway.

"Look Mister, I am really sorry. I really didn't need to run into you, I was running late for class and today is the first day…"

"Follow me." The accented Asian man said in his deep voice. He turned from the doorway and started to make his way down the hall.

Eden followed close behind, staying quiet. What was he going to do? Maybe he was going to report her to the dean for misconduct. Maybe he was from the bank and realized she was late on her loan payments. Eden started to play with the creases of Italian piece that she was just given, and mumbled behind the dark tall man.

He continued to walk until they reached the office to the dean of the school. He knocked on the door twice and turned the knob slowly and opened the door. Once the door was opened he stepped away and stood next to doorway, with his hands to his sides quietly. Eden looked at him curiously when she heard her name being called from the inside of the room.

"Eden, please come in and be seated," The dean had said, pointing to an empty chair in his large office.

Eden quietly made her way into the room, once inside of the doorway another man quickly moved and shut the door, and moved back to his place, standing like a statue. Eden had expected only the dean to be sitting in the room, but once she was in, she noticed a grandly dressed Asian woman, sipping delicately from a teacup. Her hair was done in a tight knot, with an elegant gold bongzam though it. Next to her sat a handsome Asian man dressed in a black suit and tie, he looked tall and very well built, his hair was fairly long, falling to an inch above his shoulders, and fell a little over his eyes. He had his left hand rested on the side of his face, looking as if he was deep in thought.

"Eden, please be seated," The dean had said once again, noticing that Eden was staring dumbly at the two other people seated in the room.

Eden swore to herself and sat down quickly in the other available seat in the office, suddenly feeling that she should have worn something nicer than the jeans and blouse that she had thrown on in the morning.

"These people have requested an audience with you this morning Eden, I have already informed your professors that you will not make it to today's lessons," The dean once again said, and then stood up suddenly. "Now I will make my way quickly, please take your time!" The dean said, bowing to the other two and then looked over to Eden as if he were shocked that such people would request company from her, he then made his way from the room.

Eden placed her purse on her lap and once again started to fumble with the cover from the piece of music that her professor had given to her, making shy glances at the elegant woman and the cold-looking, well dressed (and very handsome) man. Finally the woman spoke up.

"You made a trip to Korea last month, did you not?" The woman asked in very accented, yet flawless English.

"Y..Yes, I did. I was to take part in a competition, but there was an emergency and for those reasons I missed the competition," Eden said, very quietly, glancing yet again at the woman and man.

"You saved an elderly woman, right?" The woman asked in a voice that sounded half accusing.

Eden nodded absentmindedly, and then looked up in shock. She never told anyone about carrying the elderly lady, who appeared to be having heart problems, to the hospital. How do these people know that?

"Yes I did... but how did you know? I never told anyone…" Eden started.

"That woman happened to be the great queen of Korea… and also my mother in law. She is very thankful for your help in saving her," The woman started, and took another long sip of tea before finishing. "She wants to extend her gratitude by promising you to my son, the crown prince."

Eden sat for a moment, her mouth agape, processing everything that the woman had just told her.

"Wait… that woman… was a queen?" Eden stammered. She closed her eyes and sat confused. "Promise me to her son? What is that supposed to mean?"

The woman glanced over to the man sitting next to her and sighed loudly, placing the tea glass down on the saucer elegantly.

"Yes, that woman is a queen. She has promised you to my son, meaning that she has decided to make you his future bride and the future mother to our nation." The woman said slowly, allowing Eden to process everything.

At the word bride Eden stood strait up, her purse and music falling loudly to the floor.

"Bride!? Mother?! She wants me to marry someone I don't know? I'm sorry Ma'am, but I am only 21 years old and I haven't even finished college yet! How am I supposed to marry someone who I don't even know? Let alone someone that is a prince!" Eden half shouted, in shock. "I'm sorry Ma'am, but I am not princess material! I am flattered, but… Really I don't know what to say…" Eden said, fanning herself and sitting down once again.

The man finally looked up and stared down on Eden, surveying her up and down for a moment, then spoke in a deep, smooth, accented voice.

"I really don't care to marry someone I don't know either, but unfortunately in the palace I have to marry whomever the great queen tells me to marry, and that person just so happens to be you," The man said looking Eden in her eyes. "It's not like you would have been my first choice anyway." He finished, crossing his arms and looked out the window into the city. The woman next to him glared at him and glanced back over to Eden, who was more than a little miffed at his last comment.

"Your dean expressed that you are experiencing some financial difficulties. After we draw the paperwork to have you withdrawn, we will take care of all of your financial obligations and bring you back to Korea to prepare you for the wedding. With any luck it will take place in a little less than a month. There is a car outside that will take you to a hotel room where you will start being measured and fitted for the traditional clothing that you must wear once we get to Korea. There is much for you to do in very little time, so we must all now take our leave." The woman said as she stood up and bowed slightly at Eden, and then nodded at her son to do the same, and then both made their way from the room.

Eden continued to sit in the chair in shock for a long while. It seemed as if she really wasn't being given a choice in the matter. She continued to think about it. They were going to cover all of her financial obligations, which would help her out quite a bit. On the downside to that though she had to marry that man, who seemed colder than ice and live in a country she knew little about. As she sat there pondering her situation, the man who brought her to them had entered the room.

"Miss, I must take you to the car that is waiting for you. There is quite a bit you must do today." He said, nodding toward the doorway. Eden nodded and bent over to pick up her belongings that had fallen to the floor, stood up and walked out of the doorway and to the front of the school.

Once Eden had walked to the front doors of her school she turned to the bodyguard and smiled.

"There is no need for me to take this car to the hotel room; I'm going to return to my apartment. Good day mister!" Eden called as she made a mad dash toward the direction that she had parked her vespa. The body guard made to grab her, but it was in vain; Eden was already halfway down the street. The guard threw his hands up in frustration and got into the car, slamming the door behind him.

Eden made it home as fast as she could. She was afraid that the bodyguard would have followed her, but to her great luck he had not. Walking slowly up to the fourth floor of her apartment complex she could hear the sounds of a baby's cries, the screams of a man yelling at his wife, and the giggles of children playing. These were sounds she was used to, sounds she had heard non-stop for the past three years. The walls were grubby, and the banister of the stairs was wobbly, but she had learned to become accustomed to it all. After climbing a few flights of stairs she had reached her floor. Walking hastily to her door she smiled at the numbers that were spray-painted on, and unlocked her door.

Eden's apartment was small. It only consisted of two rooms, and a bathroom. The one room contained her living area and kitchen; the other room contained her bedroom. She kicked off her shoes next to the door and made her way over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. On the kitchen counter she noticed that her answering machine had been blinking and that she had a message. Eden pressed play as she guzzled down some water.

"Miss Eden Thomson, this is George Codwell from the loan company, you are 3 months late on your loan payments. If you do not pay these late payments, along with this months payment in the next 20 days we will send a representative to you to collect these payments. Please call us back at…" Eden rushed over and pressed delete before the message could be completed.

She ran her hands through her hair. What was she going to do? She didn't have the money to pay back the loans yet, she barely had enough money to pay for her living fees.

Suddenly in her head came the accented voice from the elegant lady from earlier.

"_Your dean expressed that you are experiencing some financial difficulties. After we draw the paperwork to have you withdrawn, we will take care of all of your financial obligations and bring you back to Korea to prepare you for the wedding…"_

Eden hit her head.

"No! No! I will not sell myself out like this. I mean, this is marriage, I don't love or know this person, and this is the rest of my life. There has to be a better way!" Eden said to herself, sinking onto the couch.

Eden sat for a while, worrying about her troubles, after thirty minuets she closed her eyes and fell asleep, telling herself that she would only rest for an hour.

Three hours later she was awoken by sharp jabs at her door. Groggily she sat up and flattened her hair around her head and walked to the door.

"Hold on, I'm coming, I'm coming…" Eden yawned as she slowly opened the door.

Standing there was the tall, dark and handsome figure of the prince that she has seen earlier. She rubbed her eyes thinking that she might have been seeing things, and looked again. Sure enough, he was standing there with the body guard from earlier slightly behind him.

"Are you planning on inviting me in, or do I have to wait for someone to walk out and shoot me?" The prince questioned, eyeing Eden up and down. Eden flew her eyes open wide and opened the door wider for him to enter.

"Oh! Sorry, come in…" Eden said loudly, feeling ashamed.

The guard took his place outside of the doorway and the prince entered, closing the door behind him. He surveyed the room up and down, raising an eyebrow to size of the room. He had to admit, the girl took good care of such a small space. How could anyone willingly live in a place such as this? Though he supposed that this girl was not your average girl.

"Please have a seat, can I get you anything to drink… Er… I have water…" Eden said pointing to the couch for him to sit. The prince shook his head and gingerly sat down n the couch.

"I'm taking it since you didn't take the car we had ready for you back to the hotel that you are planning on declining the proposal." The prince said leaning back slightly into the couch and looked intently at Eden.

"Err… It isn't anything against you; it's just that I really don't have any plans on getting married. I haven't even finished school. I don't even know you…" Eden started, feeling exasperated.

"I'll be strait with you, I don't care to be in an arranged marriage either, but my grandmother, the one you saved, is not doing well. I want to see her happy before she passes away," The prince started, crossing one leg over the other and placing his arms on the top of the couch. "So I'll make a deal with you. Marry me so that my grandmother can be happy before she passes, and once she passes I'll let you have a divorce. In return I'll take care of your loan payments and pay for the rest of your schooling. My grandmother doesn't have much longer to live anyway. It will be fast and you can return to living life normally and debt free and I can see my grandmother happy." He finished, uncrossing his legs and standing up.

"What do you say?" He asked, looking Eden deep in her eyes.

"Err… I don't know…" she said quietly, looking down. To be honest, it was a great idea. She didn't have to stick around forever, and her debt would be paid. All she had to do was marry the prince and pretend to be happy until his grandmother passed away. He really wasn't asking for too much.

"Can… Can we get this in writing?" Eden started, looking back up into his eyes. "I want your word that once your grandmother passes away you will let me have a divorce and that you will keep your word."

The prince smiled and sat back down on the couch.

"Do you have a paper and pen nearby?" He asked, looking once again around the apartment. Eden nodded and rushed around, grabbing a piece of paper, a pen, and something to write it on.

For the next hour The prince and Eden went over the clauses for the contract, agreeing that they would only remain married until his grandmother passed away and a week after the funeral is over the prince will file for divorce. It also stated that the prince would pay off all of Eden's loans and school payments in return for marrying him. All that was left to do was to sign the document.

In Eden's neat handwriting she signed her full name: Eden Marie Thomson. After reading over the contract once again to make sure that it was all there, she handed it over to the prince. She watched him as he first wrote his name with symbols, then next to it with letters: Lee Bon Hwa.

"Oh, so that is your name…" Eden said, surveying the neat text. The prince looked at her and nodded, taking the paper and folding it neatly, placing it in the top pocket of his suit jacket.

"Alright, quickly pack your things. You're coming with me to the hotel so that you can be measured and prepared for the wedding. We'll leave either tomorrow or the day after." The prince said, sitting back down on the couch and motioned for her to hurry.

Eden felt as if she had swallowed a brick. This was it; this was the start of a new adventure. What laid in the future for the two of them?


End file.
